Get your Kicks...

"If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that is best.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six." Nat King Cole

In the weeks leading up to this trip photos of Havasu in a guidebook triggered discussion via email of the possibility of backpacking there too. The place looked too good to be true. Their website leads one to believe a reservation is required... anyway, we didn't get our shit together to call until a day or two before the Grand Canyon backpack & to our surprise we got a booking (more on that later). Naturally at the time we didn't expect Moe to become a temporary cripple so further discussion ensued. I felt guilty if I were to leave Moe out, he felt guilty for (in his mind) letting me down. Moe decided to see how his knee went for the day & we would stage within range of Havasu.

We left the Grand Canyon area & stopped in Tusayan just south of the park. Here we caught the Imax film about the Grand Canyon. The parts about John Powell (one armed Civil War vet. who was the first white to explore much of the Grand Canyon including running the Colorado River) were very well done, other parts a bit cheesy. Groceries in Williams then pick up Route 66 at Seligman (see photo above). Seligman is close enough to I40 to pull in tourons nostalgic for Route 66. Most other towns, like Peach Springs, were pretty much killed off when the I40 bypassed them. I don't imagine when the Interstates are replaced by?... I don't know, use your imagination... that anyone will be nostalgic about them. Maybe.

We settled on the campground at The Grand Canyon Caverns which for some reason gave me a distinct feeling of de ja vu. Most of the buildings are very dated. I asked about showers when we checked in, the clerk, a really nice elderly lady, seemed confused by the inquiry. "Do I need quarters?" "No," she says "They're just regular old showers."

They give guided tours of the caverns, Moe did that (I'll post a link here when he gets his blog post up) while I went to sort gear & pack for the Havasu backpack. He came back with a HUGE piece of pie to share which was awful nice of him.
By this time Moe had definitely decided that he could not backpack until his knee healed. Besides that he had just received word that his trip to Costa Rica was planned so getting home a little sooner for him would be a good thing. Costa Rica!... now I don't feel any guilt at all!
Enjoyed the sunset & out comes Moe's radio again. Good luck; can't even get a cell phone signal here. Pulls in 960 again out of Calgary (what are the odds) & it's the Flames vrs Oilers! We both listen closely not having a clue what period it might even be in... a lot is riding on what score we hear... the lead up... "so & so(Oiler player) scores! Oilers lead the Flames 1-0" "YES!!" I exclaim. Moe scowls & grabs the radio. CLICK. That was it for radio for the evening. (smurk)